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R-CALF USA In the News R-CALF USA in the News - Click here for independent newspaper, magazine, and radio coverage of R-CALF USA's activities across the nation. Also available is the Weekly Roundup with R-CALF USA. R-CALF USA News Releases and Statements *Media: For comments, interviews, and further information, please contact our Communications Coordinator Shae Dodson at 406-672-8969 or sdodson@r-calfusa.com.
Feb. 25 Confirmation of BSE-Positive Cow Kept Secret March 10, 2010 Billings, Mont. – Yet again, R-CALF USA learned through the rumor mill yesterday that Canada had detected the country’s 18th case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a 72-month-old Angus cow. Although Canadian officials were purported to have notified the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) last week, a phone call this morning to OIE revealed that Canada had not yet notified OIE of this latest discovery. However, R-CALF USA Communications Coordinator Shae Dodson was told via telephone by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) that Canada, indeed, had discovered yet another case of BSE. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) later verified CFIA’s report.
March 8, 2010 Washington, D.C. – Visits to approximately 80 congressional offices were made last week when ranchers teamed up with U.S. manufacturers and organized labor groups to tell Congress that current U.S. trade policy has failed America, and it is past time for the U.S. to do what every other major trading nation has already done – implement a national trade strategy that promotes domestic productivity and economic growth. March 3, 2010 Washington, D.C. – The well-being of Rural America hinges on the success or failure of the U.S. live cattle industry. Fundamentally flawed free trade agreements, in part, have harmed this industry to the point of crisis, and failed U.S. trade policies have contributed to the exodus of half a million independent U.S. cattle producers, according to R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard, who testified Tuesday before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) at its hearing on the proposed U.S.–Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that soon will be considered by President Obama.
March 1, 2010 Washington, D.C. – At the invitation of the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard will testify at a hearing tomorrow (Tues. – March 2) to gather input for ITC’s investigation on the probable economic effect of duty-free imports of a U.S.–Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Besides the U.S., there are seven other countries included in the TPP: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The ITC expects to submit its report to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) by June 2, 2010.
February 16, 2010 Billings, Mont. – Due to concerns about the large territories covered by current R-CALF USA directors and that those directors simply are stretched beyond their limits by these geographical limitations, members who attended the group’s recent 11th annual convention approved a motion to change the bylaws to rearrange directors’ territories and add five new directors to R-CALF USA’s board. To take effect, the proposed changes must be approved by two-thirds of the organization’s voting members. Currently, there are 10 individuals who sit on R-CALF USA’s board.
February 15, 2010 Billings, Mont. – In a memorandum sent Friday to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), R-CALF USA explained that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington (Court) recently issued an order that addresses a principal argument contained in the complaints filed at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the U.S. country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law by Canada and Mexico. The order stems from the lawsuit that Easterday Ranches Inc. (Easterday) filed against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regarding the U.S. COOL law.
February 12, 2010 Billings, Mont. – Due to concerns about how groups like the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and other extremist organizations are railroading animal-care regulations in several states, R-CALF USA members who attended the group’s recent annual convention in Rapid City, S.D., felt it was imperative to get policy on the books to emphasize that cattle farmers and ranchers are the experts when it comes to the proper management of their livestock.
February 11, 2010 Billings, Mont. – Because the U.S. live cattle industry is in a rapid state of decline, R-CALF USA members who attended the group’s recent convention voted unanimously on two policy resolutions that call for total and complete enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA). All R-CALF USA members will have the opportunity this spring to vote on proposed policy via a mail-in ballot.
February 8, 2009 Washington, D.C. – In a letter sent Friday to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, R-CALF USA President/Region VI Director Max Thornsberry, a Missouri veterinarian, thanked the United States’ top agriculture official for his “receptiveness to the interests of U.S. cattle farmers and ranchers.” On Friday, Vilsack announced he was revising his agency’s prior policy on animal disease traceability and would begin developing a new approach. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) prior policy was the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), a policy vehemently opposed by R-CALF USA and its numerous state affiliates.
What’s the Matter with M-COOL? February 4, 2010 Billings, Mont. – Country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for meat has become the law of the land, and you’d think a pig had been stuck with a knife considering all the squealing coming from the multinational beef packing industry and its trade associations.
February 2, 2010 Billings, Mont. – R-CALF USA wishes to express its sincere thanks to Jim and Deneen Lambley, with KSDZ-FM “The Twister” in Gordon, Neb., for recently attending the organization’s 11th annual convention held in Rapid City, S.D., Jan. 22-23. January 28, 2010 Washington, D.C. – In a letter sent today to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), R-CALF USA explained that although Canada claims as an entitlement access to the U.S. market for its cattle and beef without country-of-origin labeling (COOL), Canada continues to subsidize its cattle and beef sector in order to anticompetitively penetrate the U.S. market.
January 26, 2010 Billings, Mont. – R-CALF USA members who attended the group’s 11th annual convention in Rapid City, S.D., last week addressed the battle between the Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) regarding NCBA’s efforts to gain additional control over National Beef Checkoff Program funds, which are monies created when producers and importers pay a mandatory $1/head fee each time they sell an individual animal.
January 19, 2010 Billings, Mont. – In a memorandum sent Friday to the U.S. Department of Justice (Justice) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), R-CALF USA informed the agencies that the agreement disclosed Jan. 12, 2010, by Thomson Reuters between National Beef Packing Co. (National Beef) and Hitch Enterprises (Hitch) “demonstrates the rapidity with which beef packers and concentrated feedlots are eliminating competition in the U.S. fed cattle market.” Group Gives Justice Dept. Evidence to Show Abusive Market Power is Destroying U.S. Cattle Industry January 13, 2009 Billings, Mont. – In response to a request by the U.S. Department of Justice (Justice) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for input regarding the agencies’ joint investigation into the current state of competition in U.S. livestock markets and other agricultural markets, R-CALF USA provided a comprehensive 53-page overview of the current state of the U.S. cattle industry. Group Demonstrates AMI’s Attack on COOL Not Factual January 12, 2010 Billings, Mont. – R-CALF USA has provided the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) with information to show that the American Meat Institute’s (AMI’s) claim that the U.S. country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law discourages U.S. meatpackers from purchasing foreign cattle is unsupported by actual market information. AMI made this unsupported claim in comments it submitted to USTR on Jan. 8, 2010. Chief Enforcer of the Packers and Stockyards Act to Keynote 11th Annual Convention January 11, 2010 Rapid City, S.D. – R-CALF USA will hold its 11th annual convention here Jan. 22-23, 2010, at the Best Western Ramkota Hotel, located at I-90 and Lacrosse St., Exit 59. Keynoting the convention will be J. Dudley Butler, Administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA), the agency charged with the enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 (PSA), which was established to protect independent cattle producers from the unfair and deceptive practices of the concentrated meatpacking industry. Fight for COOL Continues in Nation’s Capitol with Help from 26 Senators January 7, 2010 Washington, D.C. – R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard recently met with Edward Avalos, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, other USDA officials and congressional staffers to discuss the country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law and the joint Senate letter circulated by Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., which encourages U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Ron Kirk, to continue to aggressively defend COOL against the World Trade Organization (WTO) complaints filed by Canada and Mexico.
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